Trey Burke (PG, UTA) - NBA Waiver Wire Pickups

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Trey Burke has struggled to transition his college-level superstardom to the NBA in his brief career, which has had its series of ups-and-downs since being selected in the top 10 back in 2013. At times, he has overcome his undersized frame by showing the same ability he showed at Michigan to score in bunches, close games, and find his teammates for buckets. However, he has also been so inconsistent at times that he has lost minutes to guys such as Raul Neto.

Burke’s fantasy stock appears to be on a steady rise in the past few weeks. The top option off Utah’s bench, Burke was already starting to play with more consistency before multiple injuries to shooting guard Alec Burks last week opened up even more time on the floor. In four games since Burks’ injuries, Burke has averaged over 30 minutes per game, scoring right around 18 ppg. The steals are there (1.0) as are the three-pointers (1.7), but his other counting stats need to be improved upon. The optimism is that they too will rise with more opportunity to have the ball in his hands and more time on the floor.

Bottom Line: Burke certainly has the talent and is in a situation to be a valuable fantasy asset both in the short-term (the Jazz have play five times this upcoming week) and in the long-term. Over the past few seasons, we have seen many guards that specialize in scoring the ball come off the bench for their teams (Jamal Crawford, Jason Terry, etc.) and remain valuable commodities in the fantasy world. After scoring 23 & 27 points in back-to-back games last week, there is reason to suspect the light might finally be going on for Burke to play consistent ball.